Can filling machine



Jan. 4, 1938- c. H. AYARs 2,104,445

CAN FILLING MACHINE Filed Jan. 8, 1957 2 sheets-sheet 1 INV ENTOR HARlES HAY/ARS,

Jan.; 4, 1938. c. H. AYARs 2,104,445

CAN FILLING MACHINE Filed Jan. 8,1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR CHAFBlYLt-:S HHYARS.

NW :TTRNEY':

Patented Jan. 4, 1938 Charles `H. Ayars, Salem,

N. J., assignor toirAyars Machine Company, Salem, N. J., a corporation of" New Jersey Application January 8, 1937; Serial'No. 119,550

11 Claims.

= proportion of unbroken tomatoes" in the cans is greatly reduced.

'I'he object of the present invention is to provide mechanisms whereby a greater percentage. N f whole unbroken tomatoes, or the like, may be deposited in cans by high speed machinery.

A further object of the invention is to provide such mechanism without sacrifice of either speed or any other consequential pertinence ofA the machine.

provide mechanisms for carrying out the above objects, andin which the same are of simple construction and may be readily applied to machines now in use.

According to the invention, the can filling machine of the type which has adjustable telescopic pockets and a reciprocating hopper above an agitator or shaker isprovided with a juice pan, which has a depressed channel inthe same leading into the discharge opening, so that the whole tomato or the like may be dropped in the telescopic pocket just prior to passing under the edge of the shaker or agitator.

The drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention and the views therein are as follows:-

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the machine.

showing the juice pan agitator or shaker and hopper casting with the telescopic pockets-indicated in dotted lines,

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the juice pan.'

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, and

Figure 4 is a like View taken on` the line 4-4 of Figure 1, the movement being in the direction of the arrow B.

The general type of machine to which the present invention applies is shown in Figure 1 of my United States Patent No. 1,883,460, granted October 18, 1932, and the agitator or shaker member is more clearly shown in my United States Patent No. 1,818,780, granted August 11, 1931. The details of mechanism and the machine in general to which this invention applies by reason of same being well known, are not shown in the drawings in this application.

A still further object `of the invention istoY The material to be filled in the cans is contained in a hopper (not shown) whose lower end is xed inthe hopper casting 6 (see Figure 3). This hopper casting is mounted on the agitator or shaker 'I by the respective flanges 8 and 9. 5 The agitator or shaker is mounted on the ange II of the upper turret member I2. This member has depending ianges I3 whicht in the upstanding flanges I4J on the lower turret member I6, so that measuring cups A are provided, 10 and these flanges are vertically adjustable so as to provide for the regulation of capacity in said cups. The upper turret member has a central hub I8 which is aixed to a shaft I9 operated by suitable power (not shown). The turret members i2 and I 6 operate in a juice pan 2|; which has a substantially flat bottom acting as a base or bottom for the telescopic cups. The juice pan has a discharge opening 22 through which the measuredmaterial falls through funnels into 20 the cans which are successively fed thereunder. The funnels and cans are not shown in this application, but inthe rst patent above set forth. The agitator or shaker has an arm 23 pivotally mounted on a shaft 24. It is also provided with 25 another arm 26 which has a longitudinal slot 21 providing for the operation of a pin 28 mounted off-center on the disk 29, thus forming an eccentric providing reciprocating movement for the said shaker.

The hopper and its casting 6 have relative movement with the shaker. The casting has an arm (not shown) pivotally mounted on the shaft 24 and another arm 3I having a slot 32 through which a shaft 33 extends. The slot 32 on the 35 arm 3l of the casting permits a limited movement ofthe hopper, such movement being due to the friction between the lower end of the hopper casting and the shaker member. The movement, of course, is limitedA by the slot 32. The mechanism described up to this point is the same as found on the standard machines shown by the patent rst mentioned.

Let us consider the rotation of the turrets I2 and I6 in the direction of the arrow B in Figure 1. 45 The cups A shown in dotted lines pass under the horizontal shaker plate and within the opening of the shaker, so as to take their charge from the hopper, passing along until, in the conventional machine, the shaker member contacts the material extending above the rim of the cup, and either squeezes pulpous material into the can and the juice out, or shears off the tops of whole tomatoes or the like, in order that the cup may pass under the same. This crushing or shearing herein as Well as the juice pan illustrated and denaturally disrupts the Whole object, such as tomatoes, and in order to provide for the passage of tomatoes or the like Whose tops extend above the top of the telescopic cups, I have provided in the juice pan 2| a concentric depression 34 which merges into the discharge opening 22. This depression extends to a point just Within the opening of the shaker member, so that Whole objects, such as tomatoes, may settle below the bottoms of the telescopic cups, and into this recess Where they are conveyed around to the discharge opening, and droppedthrough the funnels into the cans.

Figure 3 illustrates tomatoes C Whose upper ends 36 extend a considerable distance above the top of the upper turret, and consequently above the edges of the telescopic cup A. In the conventional machine, when these tomatoes Were brought into contact with the edge 31 of the shaker, they were either crushed down into the cup and a like amount of juice displaced from the cup, or their tops were sheared, thereby disrupting them. With the mechanism of the present invention, these tomatoes C, prior to the cup A in which they are lodged passing under the point 31 of the shaker, drop down into the recess 34, so that their upper ends are either below the upper edge of the cups, or only very slightly above the same, so that they are easily packed down into the cup by the shaker Without disrupting the same, or serious crushing thereof.

Figure 4 shows the manner in which the Whole tomatoes C Will settle into the recess when the cup in which they are lodged contacts same, and this view is intended to illustrate the dropping of the Whole tomatoes into this recess 34 just prior to the cup in which they are lodged passing under the tapered part of the shaker.

It has been found that with the juice pan constructed as described herein, the percentage of whole tomatoes or the like packed in the cans is greatly in excess of heretofore, and that the conventional machine may be readily equipped with the type of juice pan described herein.

Of course, the machine illustrated and described scribed may be modied and changed in various Ways without departing from the invention herein set forth and hereafter claimed.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:-

l. In a can lling machine having a hopper, measuring cups adapted to pass under said hopper to receive a charge of material therefrom, a nonrotatable base plate forming the bottoms of said 55( cups and having a discharge opening for discharging the contents of said cups, and a depressed channel in said base plate merging into said discharge opening to permit the contents of said cups to settle therein prior to discharge through said opening.

2. In a can filling machine having a hopper, measuring cups adapted to pass under said hopper to receive a charge of material therefrom, a stationary juice pan having a at base forming the bottoms of said cups and having a discharge .opening for discharging the contents of said cups,

and a depressed channel in said base merging into said discharge opening to permit the contents of said cups to settle therein prior to discharge through said opening.

3. In a can lling machine having a hopper, measuring cups adapted to pass under said hopper to receive a charge of material therefrom, a nonrotatable base plate forming the bottoms of said cups and having a discharge opening for discharging the contents of said cups, and a depressed channel in said base plate extending from under said hopper to said discharge opening to permit the contents of said cups to settle therein prior to discharge through said opening.

4. In a can filling machine having a hopper, measuring cups adapted to pass under said hopper to receive a charge of material therefrom, a stationary juice pan having a flat base forming the bottoms of said cups and having a discharge opening for discharging the contents of said cups, and a depressed channel in said base extending from under said hopper to said discharge opening to permit the contents of said cups to settle therein prior to discharge through said opening.

5. In a can filling machine having a hopper, measuring cups adapted to pass under said hopper to receive a charge of material therefrom, a non-rotatable base plate forming the bottoms of said cups and having a discharge opening for discharging the contents of said cups, and an arcuate depressed channel in said base plate merging into said disch-arge opening to permitY the contents of said cups to settle therein prior to discharge through said opening.

6. In a can filling machine having a hopper, measuring cups adapted to pass under said hopper to receive a charge of material therefrom, a stationary juice pan having a flat base forming the bottoms of said cups and having a discharge opening for discharging the contents of said cups, and an arcuate depressed channel in said base merging into said discharge opening to permit the contents of said cups to settle therein prior to discharge through said opening.

7. In a can filling machine having a hopper, measuring cups adapted to pass under said hopper to receive a charge of material therefrom, a non-rotatable base plate forming the bottoms of said cups and having a discharge opening for discharging the contents of said cups, and a concentric depressed channel in said base plate merging into said discharge `opening to permit the contents of said cups to settle therein prior to discharge through said opening.

8. A juice pan for can filling machines comprising a flat base having an upstanding ange and a discharge opening, 4and a depressed channel in said basemerging into said opening.

9. A juice pan for can filling machines com-V prising a fiat base having an upstanding flange and a discharge opening, and a concentric depressed channel in said base merging into said opening.

10. A base plate for can filling machines having rotating measuring cups, said plate forming the bottom of said cups and having a discharge opening therein, and a depressed channel in said plate merging into said opening.

11. A base plate for can filling machines having rotating measuring cups, said plate forming the bottom of said cups and having a discharge opening therein, and a concentricV depressed channel in said plate merging into Ysaid opening.

CHARLES H. AYARS. 

